Thistle's Story
by Silkmouse
Summary: What if there was a fairy who could control the sprinting thistles? Pixie Hollow beware! The newest arrival sets off to do just that, and Thistle is her name!


It was a beautiful day in the city; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the flowers planted on the window sills were in full bloom. In a house by the seaside, a family of five was enjoying a lovely afternoon outside in their garden.

There was a mother and father and their three children; Priscilla the eldest at age 10, Edgar the second at 6 years old, and the youngest, newest member of the family was little Natalie at just four months.

"Mommy." Said Priscilla "Can we take Natalie to pick some flowers for a centerpiece? It would look ever so lovely on our table while we eat lunch."

Her mother thought about it for a moment "Alright Prissy dear, but we mustn't take too long, your brother and father are waiting for us."

"Yay!" Priscilla cried with joy, running over to Natalie inside her baby carriage, she smiled "Did you hear that Natalie? We're going into the garden to pick flowers! I'll show you all my favorites!"

Cooing happily, Natalie waved her rattle in delight.

Pushing the carriage out of the kitchen though the terrace door, Priscilla's mother picked up Natalie and carried her into the well cared for garden.

"Oh look!" Priscilla pointed out "It's a daffodil! And over there is a tulip! Oohh it's a pink tulip, my favorite!"

Shouting out the name of every flower in the garden, Priscilla spotted something special "It's a violet." She said. Carefully plucking the violet out of the ground, Priscilla carried it over to her mother and sister.

"Look." She said to Natalie "Isn't it beautiful? And it smells wonderful!" she told her baby sister, holding the flower close to her face so she could smell.

With the sunshine and the bright colors of all the flowers, Natalie was quite overwhelmed with happiness, and let out an explosive laugh. The laugh carried like a gust of wind and blew the petals right off the violet Priscilla was showing her sister.

"She laughed!" Priscilla said.

"Oh my goodness!" her mother cried "Her first laugh! Richard!" she called, practically running back inside "Richard, you'll never guess what just happened!"

Meanwhile the gust of wind that had blown the petals off the violet was carrying those very petals through the town and out to sea.

Eventually all the other petals got tired and dropped into the ocean, but one little petal had braved the unknown and made it across. Riding on the breeze, the petal was entering the world of pixie hollow. Starting to tire a little the petal dropped toward the ground.

"Oh no." said Lacewing, a female fast flying talent "You're making it to the pixie dust tree."

Lacewing blew a sudden gust of wind, pushing the petal forward and back on its way.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Said Vidia.

"What do you mean?" Lacewing asked her.

"The last petal to fly in here caused too much trouble to be worth it. You don't know what kind of monstrosity you might be blowing in."

"Oh Vidia." Lacewing sighed, rolling her eyes "You and Wasp have really got to loosen up."

During this conversation, the petal had made its way to the pixie dust tree and settled itself down comfortably.

By now plenty fairies had heard the laugh echo across the island, and were gathering at the pixie dust tree. Terrence had brought in a chalice full of pixie dust, and poured it onto the violet petal. In a few seconds a fairy sat up in its place, yawning as if it had been doing nothing but sleeping the whole time. Looking around, the new fairy examined her surroundings. The rest of the pixies, however, examined the new arrival.

She wore a delicate short sleeved dress made of violets, which matched the bright violet color of her eyes. She had fair skin and long brownish blond hair which shone in the light of the pixie dust.

"Hello." Said several fairies.

There was a short pause as she plucked up the courage to say something. Anything. "H-Hello." She stammered.

All of a sudden, her attention was directed at a burst of light, which materialized into a very majestic looking lady.

"Born of laughter, clothed in cheer, happiness has brought you here." She said "Welcome to Pixie Hollow. Did you find your way alright?"

The new fairy managed a shy smile and nodded.

Holding out her hand, the lady pulled the new fairy to her feet. "Now let me see about these wings." Straightening the delicate wings on her back, the lady filled them with the sparkling pixie dust. Flapping them slightly, and then faster, the new fairy rose into the air. Turning in a circle, she laughed out loud, and then landed back on the ground.

Making a gesture, the woman brought forth toadstools from the ground, in which fairies from different branches in the trees set items on.

A blond fairy wearing a short green dress set a hammer on one of the toadstools and smiled at her. The new arrival waved shyly back.

"These will help you find your talent young one." The woman told her "And trust me, you'll know it when you see it."

Taking her advice, the fairy walked 'round the toadstools looking at the different items.

Approaching a tornado, she looked up and saw three dark haired fairies wearing purple. One of them wore her short hair in a little bun; the new fairy thought she looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Barely touching the little tornado, it turned to dust before her very eyes. A little disappointed, she moved on to the next one.

"Doesn't talk much, that one." Gust whispered to Lacewing and Vidia.

Drawing near a bubble, it burst before she could touch it. The same thing happened when she tried touching the beam of light, which dimmed into nothing,

Looking around for anything else that looked remotely interesting, a flower caught her attention. Walking towards it began to glow brighter for every step she took toward it. Before she had gotten within five feet, the flower launched itself at her until she held it in her hands. Then came forth a burst of light so strong, she had to look away.

"Wow." A few fairies exclaimed.

"Whoa." Silvermist gasped "It's almost as bright as Tinkerbell's was."

"Who knows?" Tinkerbell said, siding up next to her friends "She could turn out to be something special."

"Like you Tink?" Fawn laughed.

"Garden fairies." The lady called "Come meet the newest member of your talent." She turned toward the fairy 'You shall be known from here on after as, Thistle."

"Thistle." Said the new fairy, trying it out. She loved the way it sounded on her tongue. "I like it." She told the woman.

"I'm glad." She smiled back.

"Look's like I've got a new trainee on my hands." Said a red head fairy in a southern accent.

"Hi." Thistle said.

"Well hello daisytop." She said "My name is Rosetta. I'll be 'showin you around today." She turned to leave "Follow me."

Flapping her wings, Thistle took off after Rosetta. In a while they were soaring above Pixie Hollow.

"Well sugarcane, this is a beautiful time of year for any fairy to arrive. We're preparing for the beginning of spring."

"Really?" Thistle asked in awe.

"Mm-hm." Rosetta nodded "You should've seen what happened last spring, sprinting thistles 'runnin amok, and oh it was an absolute mess!"

"What happened?" Thistle asked her curiously.

"Our little friend Tinkerbell caused quite a riot when she tried to corral those weeds. They ended up destroying springtime square, and if it hadn't been for Tinkerbell of course, we might never have fixed everything in time."

Thistle thought about this for a moment "Has anyone else ever tried to control the sprinting thistles?"

Rosetta laughed "Oh honey, you'd have to be out of your mind to try. No one can control those weeds."

'_Maybe not yet.' _Thistle thought '_But with a little hard work and patience, I bet it could be done._

"Now we work almost everywhere around Pixie Hollow, except for places like Winter Woods." Rosetta explained "Now come on and I'll show you where you'll be 'stayin."

Descending down to the ground, Rosetta led Thistle to a quaint little home made of grass and lilacs. Opening the door, Rosetta gestured inside "Make your self at home pearblossom. There are some clothes in the closet; you might have to adjust them though. Come find me when you're ready, I'll be with Hollyhock in the tulip grove." With that she flew away, leaving Thistle by herself.

Looking in the closet, she found several dresses, skirts, pants, and pairs of shoes. Gazing at the different choices, she finally chose a shirt and skirt combination. She tried them on; they seemed to be her size. The shirt was purple and sleeveless with a heart shaped neckline and a small mustard seed for a button. The purple skirt was full and went down to the top of her kneecap. She chose some lavender sandals with straps that wound around to her calves and a headband to keep excess hair out of her way (she knew she couldn't do anything about her bangs though). When she finished, she went to go look for Rosetta, whom she found in the tulip grove as promised.

"Oh my stars!" she gasped when she saw Thistle "Don't you look prettier than a sunflower on a summer day!"

Thistle smiled shyly and blushed at the compliment.

"So." Said the fairy, who must have been Hollyhock "Are you ready for your first day as a garden fairy?"

Thistle nodded "What do we do first?" she asked.

"Well since you're new we should probably start you off with something easy." Hollyhock said "Like…Hmm, let's see…How about helping the grasses grow? There are a couple of bald patches in the meadow; we could start you off there."

"That sounds cool." Thistle said, following Rosetta and Hollyhock to the meadow.

"Now because grass isn't the brightest of foliage, it's pretty easy to motivate." Rosetta informed Thistle "All you have to do is remain positive and confident."

"Okay." Thistle said nervously.

"Just do what I do buttercup." Rosetta said to Thistle, then turned to face the bald spot on the ground "Now come on up, so every one can see them beautiful blades."

Thistle gasped; suddenly the patch on the ground was covered with short, green, leafy fuzz.

"Oh you can do better than that." Rosetta smiled "Come on, and I promise you a fresh drink of water."

Then the grass began to grow until it was as tall as any of the other blades in the meadow.

"That's amazing!" Thistle exclaimed.

"Now you try." Hollyhock offered.

Thistle hovered anxiously over the grass "Hey there." She said in a shaky tone.

"You need to sound a little more commanding." Hollyhock whispered "Like you won't take no for an answer."

"I'll try again." She replied. She turned to the bald patch "How about you let pixie hollow see your gorgeous green underbrush?" Thistle offered "Come on. Up and at em'!"

It started slowly at first but the grass started to get higher and higher until it was a least an inch taller than the grass in the meadow.

"By the second star!" Rosetta exclaimed "Sugar cane, you are a natural!"

Thistle blushed "Thanks." She murmured, ducking her head.

Suddenly there was a rush of wind and the flutter of rapidly beating wings, and this was pulled aside from what might have been a horrible collision with a dark fairy wearing purple.

"Sorry!" Lacewing apologized "Didn't see you!" and with that she zoomed off in another direction.

"What was that?" Thistle asked, rubbing the dust out of her eyes.

"That was Lacewing." Hollyhock answered "One of the fast flying fairies."

"I wish she would take the fancy flying somewhere else." Rosetta commented "The wind and dust upset the poor lil' saplings." She gestured to where a male garden fairy was trying to calm down a group of small quivering tulip bulbs.

"I'll go help him." Hollyhock observed, and flew away.

"Meanwhile." Rosetta spoke up "You and I still have a lot of work to do."

For the rest of the day, Rosetta helped Thistle talk to different kinds of plants and flowers; she even met a few water and light fairies.

When sunset came, she said good night to Rosetta and made her way back home.

Yawning, Thistle thought about what Rosetta had said _"No one can control those weeds."_

_Maybe no one's tried hard enough yet. _Thistle reflected.

Tomorrow when Rosetta wasn't looking, she would visit Needle Point meadow.


End file.
